Ho! Ho! Ho! Mario!

Sports Illustrated for Kids Volume 5, Number 12 – December 1993

Even though I was a bit old to be perusing Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine back in December 1993, how could I pass this issue up? The cover photograph features Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, dressed as Santa Claus and feeding fish to penguins – tell me that does not scream “buy this magazine now!!!” Never mind the fact that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, penguins live at the South Pole and Lemieux lives in Pittsburgh.

Sports Illustrated for Kids is the younger, hipper version of Sports Illustrated magazine. SI for Kids is targeted at children, maybe up to 12 years of age. Of course, bigger kids like me would browse it to see what sports cards were included that month. Each issue would come with a panel of nine cards, and if one of them was a hockey card, I’d buy the magazine, like this one here that I purchased 15 years ago.

Fifteen years ago? God, I’m getting old.

SI for Kidswould run the gamut of sports, from basketball to rock-climbing to skiing to dirt biking. This particular issue had quite a bit of hockey content. Of course, it is worth buying alone just for the cover.

Here’s a rundown of the “hockey stuff” contained within:

Mario Lemieux (cover) – like I said, classic

Mystery Athlete – Brett Hull (page 4)

Bobby Hull trading card (page 9)

“Some Angry Kids Quack Back” – article about what kids think of the name “Mighty Ducks” for a hockey team (page 13)

Yeah, a lot of this is cheesy, but this particular issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids is good for hockey collectors of “off the beaten path” items. The Bobby Hull card is cool oddball piece, while the cover of the magazine is worth framing. It’s just that awesome.